Not everyone can say that are any good at the subject of math, so surely sending people spoof bills to force them to pay attention to their sums is a bit to far, don't you think?

Well, maybe and quite insulting, yet it didn't stop the scheme from Learn Direct in the UK, outlining the poor understanding of basic maths in the country. It was, thankfully, scrapped when people were sent spoof milk bills as an exercise.

Percentages seemed to be a downfall of most ordinary people so when milkmen in some areas complained that three million homes where sent spoof bills telling them that the price of their milk was going to be put up by seven percent, there was an outrage.

The Mirror paper reported the story when milkmen came under fire from confused, dazed and bewildered customers shouting at them - with no idea that the milk was going up in price.

The three million notes said, "Please note that your milk bill will be going up by seven per cent next month. Please leave the correct money out on Tuesday morning."

It was the decision of the government funded scheme that the notes were to be sent out as a test to see how many people would actually leave out the correct money for the milkman to pick up. The Learn Direct system was created to encourage people back into learning simple and basic subjects who may, did not receive the right, or enough education when they were younger. The course may not exactly be affordable, but they are designed to fit in with adult student working patterns.

One milkman has said, "Some of my customers were shocked and didn't know what to do."

A Learn Direct spokeswoman, who said the scheme cost £125,000, added: "We never had any intention of causing such confusion."

If the people have been told or at least were aware of this 'test' they should have been offered an apology.